With the delvers currently resting, Valterra had time to go over his dungeon to prepare for their eventual climb. He zipped to the second and third floors and had a look around. The recent conflict with invading birds had proven to be a boon, granting Valterra a swath of Frameworks to utilize. Some he had used on his sixth floor to create a more diverse ecosystem there. As for the others? The E and F Rank ones had been summoned above the roof of his third floor, along with a single Wyvre.
While the new Frameworks were appreciated, to be honest, Valterra was beginning to feel the strain. There were just too many Frameworks to keep track of, and all of them had the capacity to grow and Ascend. His title created the perfect environment for the little creatures of the world to gain power in ways they usually couldn’t. The problem was that there were far too many little creatures. The helpdesk had revealed it to him first; he just wasn’t in the right frame of mind to understand at the time.
When building his Wyvres, he had been inundated with so many options, many of which wouldn’t have needed much manipulation size-wise to be usable by him. Something needed to change; he just wasn’t sure what that was or how he would go about it. Sighing to himself, Valterra turned back to his dungeon—the third floor in particular. With the Ascension of one of his first-floor Guardians in process, he knew it was time for the others to receive representation. The new Murid Earth-Gulper wouldn’t be sticking around on the first floor. It was too high a Rank for it and would need a deeper place.
Likewise, Wenigo was a temporary Guardian, and with the new influx of creatures, Valterra would soon have the army he desired. Ironically, he didn’t really need it anymore. When he had given the order, he had been fresh from an invasion, and the forest surrounding him felt like an imminent threat. Now, a couple of weeks later, he was actually letting in a team of delvers and a host of wild creatures to attack him. Still, the fact remained; the third floor needed a new Guardian.
It had remained Guardianless as he hadn’t had the time to properly search for any outstanding creatures among the craziness of the last week. I could make one of the new birds a Guardian, he thought, his Awareness taking in the birds that flew around. Although, he hummed to himself as a large body passed through his Awareness, you’ll do.
He hadn’t forgotten his Wyvres. They were still his pride and joy, but their growth had stalled on the sixth without any real prey. The specimen he had summoned onto the third floor, however? Well. He was doing great. From birds to climbing creatures, his Wyvre was enjoying a surge of Aether. With his Aether-blood pumping in his veins, he was a terror to behold as he tore through everything in his path. The only one he hadn’t challenged was Wenigo, his entourage, and the colony of Warden Ants, which was fair.
Wenigo. The First Among Many. Valterra had not meant to keep him up here this long. His place was not on the third floor but on a lower floor custom-built to enhance his greatness. Still, as Valterra made his Wyvre a Guardian, he pulled up Wenigo’s description alongside the Wyvre’s.
Wenigo, The First Among Many (Guardian, Rank D - Iron)
Wenigo was the first. The first creature claimed by the Dungeon Valterra and the first creature to be Named by him. The potential of this once-humble mouse is beyond comparison. A Captain among his lesser kin and wielding Artifacts of his Dungeon Lord, Wenigo is a force to be reckoned with. There is none more loyal to the Dungeon Valterra than his first Guardian; all who threaten his lord will taste Wenigo’s steel.
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Juvenile Wyvre (Guardian, Rank E - Bronze)
An apex predator of the skies despite its small size, this particular Wyvre has been blessed by the Dungeon Valterra to become a Guardian of its second floor. Created to bring death and destruction to aerial pests, this Wyvre has exceeded expectations, becoming a terror of avians seeking to abuse the Dungeon’s unique nature. Time will tell how high this predator will fly.
Valterra’s Core shimmered in the color of delight as he read through the descriptions. He never failed to get excited by his boon. Truly, it was one of the greatest gifts he had been given, though being the administrator of his own System was just as huge, considering what he had already been able to do with it. Valterra looked over the descriptions again and let the happiness he felt color his Core in golden radiance. He felt the strengthened connection to his newest Guardian and reached into its Spark to gauge its desires. What he found surprised him, and he chuckled.
Going to the lip of the roof, he created a cave-like structure directly underneath it, set in the wall. It would be the largest such dwelling with its own Aether Pylon. He then created pitted depressions in the ceiling, perfect for a creature wanting claw holds. Sending a message of intent, he only had to wait for a couple of moments before a shadow darkened the entryway. The Wyvre Guardian flew in and immediately twisted, latching his rear claws into the ceiling. He then hung upside down with scaled wings folded, bugling his pleasure at his new home.
Valterra gave his creature the Core’s approximation of a smile before whispering his plans across the connection between them. The creature stilled before sending his acceptance. He would wait until Valterra gave the word, then test the delvers as they climbed upward. Valterra didn’t expect the creature to win, but he figured it would be a good test for them. And if they killed the Wyvre, then Valterra could test the resurrection part of his boon. It was a win-win as far as he could tell, though the experience would probably be somewhat traumatic for his poor creature.
With that done, the Dungeon Core let his Awareness run over his sixth floor before moving it down to his fifth and fourth floors consecutively. If he were going to switch things around, he would need to plan it out carefully so that his creatures could get used to the changes. He found, to his surprise, that Gründaag, his serpent Guardian, was present on the sixth floor hunting the higher rank flying insects. That he was successfully doing so was a testament to the creature’s lethality. Despite their ability to swarm, the Deeplight Swarmers were still susceptible to the Adder’s gaze and venom.
His Guardian hadn’t gotten away with his hunting without some scars to show for it. The Aether present in Valterra’s Dungeon sped up healing, but it did not heal supernaturally, only increasing the natural healing his creatures possessed. By the sheer number of scars present on his Guardian’s body, it was clear he had been attacked multiple times, including a nasty specimen that almost went clear through the snake’s body. Still, Gründaag was close, so very close, to Ascension. Valterra figured that a few more successful hunts would make the serpent ready to Ascend. The thought filled the Core with excitement.
Even so, he forced himself to turn away and begin working on getting his Dungeon prepared for Natalia’s party. I want to surprise them, he thought, surprising himself in the process. I want to show them what I have and hear their thoughts. They would be impartial for the most part. Honest judges about what his halls were capable of. Not a High Spirit or a Fae creature, but simply powerful mortals. He would finally be able to measure himself against other dungeons the delvers may have come across.
His gaze rested on his snake Guardian for a moment before shifting to take in the sixth floor. This section of the house would need to be restructured. With the third floor being on the roof and the vast majority of creatures now moving through the attic to travel deeper into the dungeon, having them go through the walls seemed ludicrous. Therefore, the attic would need to become a floor—in truth, the new fourth floor—while the sixth and fifth would flip-flop in number. What made it difficult was that the seventh and eighth floors were on the other side of the house!
My dungeon is such a mess, Valterra groused to himself. I suppose I’ll start with the attic first. Might as well do things in order. I'll deal with the rest afterward.
